People & Inspiration

Daily Diaries: When A Parent’s Loss is a Loss of All Parents

Since the story of a little girl whose illness remained undiagnosed for months broke out and went viral, thousands of netizens have not only followed every update but have also extended their words of encouragement to the family. This story is one that belongs to Courageous Caitie.

After a series of diagnoses, it was then finally ruled out that Caitie Lucas caught a disease called Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia, a disease so rare only one person in a million gets it. Months passed, and Courageous Caitie fought as courageously as she could. Despite the pains, both physical and otherwise, she remained a kid who played, painted, insisted to put on her own band aids, and even persevered to dress up on her own. On the night of March 31, Caitie’s parents through Courageous Caitie’s Facebook account, posted: “Today our daughter has gone to Jesus already.”

People who’ve read Caitie’s story cried, and together with the parents, mourned. And then, the question comes: What do you say to a parent who just lost a child? But maybe we’re looking at it wrong. Maybe it’s not merely what we say but what we feel. That ultimately, feeling their pain, feeling their loss is enough. After all, one parent’s loss is a loss of all parents.

If you’re still uncertain about how to engage with a grieving parent, here are some notes you can consider:

Be there. In spirit, in action, in comforting words.

Further encourage each other to keep the faith. At a time where faith is put to test, it helps to be the kind of person whose faith further inspires others to keep theirs.

Pray. It’s good to bend than break. But it’s always better to bend your knees and be able to break down. God’s love is saving grace, after all.

This story is one that belongs to Courageous Caitie, a story of a girl whose fighting spirit moved us all. But this isn’t hers alone. This is a story of all the parents who’ve known loss and its unfathomable pain, and still cling to God and put their complete trust in His will.